No Giambi even with a right-hander starting for the A's. After Bourn gets back it will be even harder to find him at-bats. He's hardly getting any as it is. I still don't get why he's on the team. I guess Francona puts a lot of value on a "clubhouse presence".

Prosecutor wrote:No Giambi even with a right-hander starting for the A's. After Bourn gets back it will be even harder to find him at-bats. He's hardly getting any as it is. I still don't get why he's on the team. I guess Francona puts a lot of value on a "clubhouse presence".

With Gomez's ability to play 3B I'd think Chiz is the one who's on the bubble for at-bats.

Hernandez is so unwilling to admit he made a mistake that he just ignored the evidence. That's the only conclusion I can come to. What an asshat. I almost feel bad that Oakland didn't tie it up there afterwards. Almost.

Buster Olney is all over twitter saying MLB should step in a the game should restart from 4-4 top 9th.

Obviously I hope this doesn't happen as an Indians fan but, also really MLB shouldn't step in unless the A's protested the game if you ask me.

And from what I understand about playing under protest, if it's not a game-ending call (which it wasn't) you have to protest it there and then for it to be valid.

Move on (he says knowing full well if the shoe was on the other foot I'd be calling for the game to be replayed)!

EDIT: From the official rules

Rule 4.19 Comment: Whenever a manager protests a game because of alleged misapplication of the rules the protest will not be recognized unless the umpires are notified at the time the play under protest occurs and before the next pitch, play or attempted play. A protest arising on a game-ending play may be filed until 12 noon the following day with the league office.

Prosecutor wrote:No Giambi even with a right-hander starting for the A's. After Bourn gets back it will be even harder to find him at-bats. He's hardly getting any as it is. I still don't get why he's on the team. I guess Francona puts a lot of value on a "clubhouse presence".

and that's precisley why he's on the roster. I heard an interview with him the other day and he knows his role on this team is to help these kids with the 162 game grind. And to swing the stick when the opportunity allows. He knows he's not a full time guy but as he said in that interview, "part of baseball is the veterans giving back to the young guys, it's the young guys that will move the sport forward. I want to do my part and give back to the game." The interviewer referenced his head first dive into first and how you could see how pumped up the dugout was over that. If he continues to post this in his limited plate appearences he's here for the long haul.

Giambi has a .821 OPS 126 OPS+. He's not going anywhere

Galley Boys are slop on top of a so-so burger and a bun you coulde get from a Covneninet food mart generic pack. They the Antoine Joubert of burgers; soft, sloppy, oozing grease and cheap sauce and extremely overrated by a biased fan base. Proof that if you throw enough cheap sauce shit on a burger you still can't overcome the lame burger. -JB

The Tribe lucked out with the blown HR call and Rosales throwing away a double play ball that would have ended the inning, but gave the Tribe two runs instead. That's three gift runs in a one-run win. But I'll take it any day.

Prosecutor wrote:No Giambi even with a right-hander starting for the A's. After Bourn gets back it will be even harder to find him at-bats. He's hardly getting any as it is. I still don't get why he's on the team. I guess Francona puts a lot of value on a "clubhouse presence".

and that's precisley why he's on the roster. I heard an interview with him the other day and he knows his role on this team is to help these kids with the 162 game grind. And to swing the stick when the opportunity allows. He knows he's not a full time guy but as he said in that interview, "part of baseball is the veterans giving back to the young guys, it's the young guys that will move the sport forward. I want to do my part and give back to the game." The interviewer referenced his head first dive into first and how you could see how pumped up the dugout was over that. If he continues to post this in his limited plate appearences he's here for the long haul.

Giambi has a .821 OPS 126 OPS+. He's not going anywhere

Giambi will get more at bats as soon as Mark Reynolds returns to his proper location on Planet Earth.

pup wrote:Giambi will get more at bats as soon as Mark Reynolds returns to his proper location on Planet Earth.

Yep. Reynolds is batting .297/.360/.625/.985 against RHP this season. For his career, even with this season's numbers, he's .235/.321/.474/.795. Once the numbers v. RHP normalize, Giambi will see some more swings.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

Let's see what he does with Scherzer and Verlander the next two days. Might see him get Sunday off.

Tito might try to get out in front of it and give him a breather Saturday.

Yeah. I think if Reynolds went 0-for-4 today with a couple K's, he might have gotten tomorrow off against Scherzer, especially entering on the 1-for-11. 2-for-12 with a HR and 7 K against Verlander. Seems like a good bet he gets a breather on Saturday.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

On the subject of Reynolds, at the risk of opening up a whole statistical can of worms, if you believe that BABIP is a good indicator of luck/bad luck, then his BABIP would suggest his numbers to this point are a true reflection of his performance.

The average expected BABIP is .300 and Reynolds BABIP is .300 - take that for what it's worth!

From the eye test though, he's got a much better two strike approach to this point than I ever expected to see and long may it continue.

dazindiansfanuk wrote:On the subject of Reynolds, at the risk of opening up a whole statistical can of worms, if you believe that BABIP is a good indicator of luck/bad luck, then his BABIP would suggest his numbers to this point are a true reflection of his performance.

The average expected BABIP is .300 and Reynolds BABIP is .300 - take that for what it's worth!

From the eye test though, he's got a much better two strike approach to this point than I ever expected to see and long may it continue.

Problem is, when he goes into the funk it will not be on the BIP of that equation.

He's waiting longer on the pitch and taking it to right field with two strikes. As a result his strikeouts have decreased and he's a much better hitter. And he's still strong enough to hit it over the right field wall. He had a double and a HR today - both to right-center field.

This could be a real breakthrough, although it's too early to tell for sure.

dazindiansfanuk wrote:On the subject of Reynolds, at the risk of opening up a whole statistical can of worms, if you believe that BABIP is a good indicator of luck/bad luck, then his BABIP would suggest his numbers to this point are a true reflection of his performance.

The average expected BABIP is .300 and Reynolds BABIP is .300 - take that for what it's worth!

From the eye test though, he's got a much better two strike approach to this point than I ever expected to see and long may it continue.

I made the argument in my article the other day. The big things for Reynolds are the K% and the IFFB% (pop ups). Both are currently at career lows. Those are guaranteed outs. Anything put in play has a chance. But, yes, his two-strike approach has been fantastic. I really think he's maturing as a player. These are trends that have been building for the last few seasons.